The former quarterback, who has connections to New York Jets head coach Adam Gase, could fill the role Mike Maccaggnan left behind.
It might be a decade or two too late, but the New York Jets could finally be getting Peyton Manning.
According to Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio, the Jets could pursue the accomplished quarterback for their full-time general manager position. The team fired incumbent GM Mike Maccagnan on Wednesday morning, placing head coach Adam Gase in the role on an interim basis.
Manning is best known for his illustrious NFL career. It’s one that will undoubtedly place him in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. He posted some of the best numbers of his career under Gase’s supervision in Denver. Manning joined the Broncos in 2012 after missing the entirety of his final Indianapolis Colts season with a neck injury.
In three seasons under Gase, who was a quarterbacks coach and offensive coordinator during Manning’s stay, the quarterback threw for 14,863 yards and 131 touchdown passes. That includes the historic 2013 season that saw Manning throw for 5,477 yards and 55 touchdowns. Both stand as NFL single-season records. Denver partook in Super Bowl 48 at MetLife Stadium that season, though they fell to the Seattle Seahawks.
Earlier this offseason, it was reported a reference from Manning helped Gase get the Jets’ head coaching job. Manning also recommended quarterback and former Denver teammate Trevor Siemian join up with Gase in green.
The Jets and Manning have a bit of a checkered past. Holders of the top pick in the 1997 NFL Draft, the Jets were ready to take Manning, then a college junior. He instead chose to stay for his senior year at the University of Tennessee. He was chosen by Indianapolis, then a Jets divisional rival, in the following draft’s top slot.
The Jets were 4-8 against Manning-quarterbacked teams over his 17-year career, but they did crush him and the Colts to the tune of a 41-0 shutout in the 2003 AFC wild-card round. Manning got his postseason revenge by defeating the Jets in the 2010 AFC Championship Game.
Since retirement, Manning has been in discussions for several off-the-field positions. He was linked to jobs with the Browns, Rams, and Titans in 2017. More recently, he was considered to join ESPN’s Monday Night Football booth. He would certainly seem to fulfill some of the desires CEO Christopher Johnson expressed for a new general manager.
“It’s more than a talent-evaluation guy,” Johnson said Wednesday, per Florio. “I want a great manager, a communicator, who can collaborate well with the building. I’m convinced we’re going to find that person.”
